An evening pause: Orchestration by Maurice Ravel. Performed in Carnegie Hall, New York, July 22, 2014 by the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. This long for an evening pause, but it is worth listening to every note.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: To quote the youtube webpage, “In celebration of “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” CMA has created the biggest music video in Country Music history. Titled “Forever Country,” the single and accompanying music video features 30 CMA Award-winning acts.”
Sadly, the one person who was not on this video who loomed over it as I watched was John Denver. He is still missed.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
An evening pause: Relaxing, especially a day after Thanksgiving. And you can simply let it play in the background while you work on other things on the computer.
Hat tip Insomnious.
An evening pause: Be thankful for your ability to do great things, at the spur of the moment.
Hat tip Lee Stevenson.
An evening pause:
Nothing lasts forever
And your best efforts don’t always pay
Sometimes you get sick
And you don’t get better
That’s when life is short
Even in its longest days
I find it interesting that these thoughts have only been real and strong for me during the first and last thirds of my life. I definitely pondered such thoughts in my middle years, but they had no real meaning. In the middle years things seem to continue the same for so long, which means the concept of aging fades from view. However, when we are young and when we are old the fact that we age and change is very evident, and so, the beginning and end of life becomes much more real.
Hat tip Insomnious.
An evening pause: A great cover of the Beatles song, rewritten to also give us some funny and sad commentary on the modern world.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who correctly notes that “Country music so delicious, you could eat it with a fork.”
An evening pause: The guitar playing here by Angela Maldonado proves that you don’t need a synthesizer and computer software to play this stuff.
Hat tip Insomnious.
An evening pause: I am generally not a fan of hip hop, but this music video is filled with so much happiness I can’t resist it.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who adds, “Andre’ 3000 sings and plays all 8 parts in this video from 2003. There were so many takes from different angles, eventually exhausted, he had his last character sit down during the performance.”
<An evening pause: The little dog is an especially nice touch.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who adds that “The Bratislava Hot Serenaders revive 1930’s music as best as can be done with modern instruments.”
An evening pause: During the 2015 Kentucky Music Educators convention in Louisville, the 500 high students in attendance would gather each night just before curfew on the balconies of the Hyatt Regency’s vast interior lobby and sing the national anthem.
I think it fitting to show this tonight, on election day. The United States will always hold the honor of being the first nation on Earth to attempt the great experiment of self-government, established by conscious choice with the creation of founding documents. For this, we will forever I think be remembered in human history, a fact for which Americans should always be proud.
Hat tip Peter Fenstermacher.
<An evening pause: I like the words he uses to introduce the song, “You might wonder why superheroes are born, but I gotta tell ya, sometimes they’re not born, they’re made.”
Hat tip Andrew_W.
An evening pause: From the 1966 film of the same name.
Born free
And life is worth living
but only worth living
‘Cause you’re born free.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: The performances here are quite spectacular, but as the youtube link notes, they are also “creepy as hell.” Ask yourself repeatedly if you haven’t become one of these North Korean kids when you vote this coming Tuesday.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An eveing pause: I like the feeling that this is entirely spontaneous, even if it isn’t.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace.
An evening pause: Written by Dirk Farrelly in 1950 while on a bus heading to Dublin, the song invokes the longing of an immigrant far from home.
And when the moonlight peeps across the rooftops,
Of this great city, wondrous though it be,
I scarcely feel its wonder or its laughter…
I’m once again back home in Inisfree.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
<An evening pause: A very nice performance of Elton John’s song. I just wish they had dumped the shots of astronauts in space and stuck with the musicians. Their playing is far more interesting to watch.
Hat tip Frank Kelly.
An evening pause: All the songs were originally by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and were used in the musical Jersey Boys, which tells that band’s story.
Hat tip Frank Kelly.
An evening pause: I’ve posted this song as an evening pause previously, but I think Audrey Hepburn’s performance of the song in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which introduced it to the world, deserves to be seen.
Hat tip Andrew_W.
An evening pause: What I think makes these performances by Rieu and his orchestra so especially appealing is that he finds musicians who are glad to show how much they enjoy playing this lovely music. He recognizes the importance of fun.
And yes, as a child of the 1960s, I cannot help listening to this music and see spaceships docking. Those of my generation will of course immediately know to what I am referring. Will anyone younger?
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
An evening pause: Created by Sebastian Gurtler and Aleksey Igudesman. Unfortunately, the full performance is not available for U.S. audiences. This clip however, is worth every second.
Hat tip Frank Kelly.
